The present application relates to a tunable resistive element.
The present application further concerns a related memory device comprising tunable resistive elements, a neuromorphic network comprising tunable resistive elements and a design structure.
Nanoscale memory devices, whose resistance depends on the history of the electric signals applied, could become critical building blocks in new computing paradigms, such as brain-inspired computing and memcomputing.
One of the leading solution is Resistive RAM (RRAM). It involves creating filaments of e.g. oxygen vacancies in dielectrics such as HfO2, using a process called soft breakdown. The filaments are subsequently closed (SET) or opened (RESET) during operation. Strongly reducing metals, e.g. titanium, may be used as one of the electrodes to enhance the formation of the filament. However, the SET process is rather local and abrupt, due to the filamentary nature of the switching and the difficulty to exchange oxygen with the electrode
Accordingly, there is a need for further improvements of resistive elements.